Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions

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By IGN Staff

Crazy Taxi? Only the beginning. You may have thought that you'd seen car carnage in action, but it's nothing when compared to the total havoc tossed upon innocent Hong Kong in the upcoming racer Wreckless. Actually, calling it a racer would be to give it less credit than it deserves. Driving platformer is the closest description we've got for the title, which mixes everything from jumping puzzles to four-wheeled sumo matches in with a title that already manages to beat games like Crazy Taxi and Midtown Madness at their own game. It also just happens to be the most graphically impressive Xbox title yet, pulling off visual effects so impressive you'll think you're watching a CG movie until you've had a chance to take out half of downtown Hong Kong for yourself.

Developer Bunkasha has pointed to Hong Kong action movies as inspiration for the game, but if you're thinking films like Hard Boiled, you'd best stick with Max Payne. This is definitely tongue in cheek, not only in the humorous dialogue and campy cutscenes, but in the design of the truly warped cars you'll be driving -- and crashing -- in the game. Pink 60's buggies, tiny three wheeled police cars, monster trucks, huge red sports cars, and a tank are just some of the cars that allow you to turn the big city into a lifetime career for the city clean-up crew. Wreckless (formerly known as Double STEAL) has you playing two separate storylines at once, one about a female cop duo bent on enacting revenge on the Yakuza for ruining their lunch break, and a bumbling pair who get caught up in the Hong Kong underworld. While some sections of the storyline and levels overlap, you'll have different goals depending on whom you play, as well as totally unique missions to conquer on each side.

The mission structure is really what sets this game apart from the competition. Every mission gives you a set of completely different goals, each of which require different skills. In one, you'll have to protect an armored truck from the Yakuza by taking out them out the old fashioned way, namely ramming them into oblivion. Play on the other side, and you'll actually have to take out the armored car, then race the loot to the airport to complete your mission. Other missions have you snapping spy photos at specific locations, working your way through the Hong Kong piers in an elaborate set of jumping puzzles. You'll have to pick up bombs being dropped off by a helicopter before they explode on the streets in another mission, and later, rescue a Feng Shui master and deliver him to the tip top of a crazy construction building. The goals differ in every mission, keeping things fresh, though the momentum is still the same throughout -- nonstop. You can smash nearly every object in the game, from sections of a Buddhist temple to steel sidewalk barriers, light poles, other cars, newspaper stands... it's endless. Not only that, but your vehicles can crunch apart, piece by piece, as you play. Doors fly off, bumpers crumple, hoods pop off their hinges, windshields break and spare tires fly down the street, all with perfect physics and in beautiful detail. Even random street cars suffer the same effects, a rarity in games since most car titles only focus on the main cars for the realistic physics and details.

It's a testament to the graphics that so much detail can be packed into the game, and all handled so beautifully. The car bodies reflect the entire environment, even down to the fully-detailed chrome hubcaps. Cars are rendered in such detail that you can actually see fanbelts running on the jeep in the game, and even giving off shadows of the belt on the engine. The city of Hong Kong, re-created in astounding detail, is filled to the brim with signs, posters, street lamps, pedestrians, and realistic traffic. Lighting is fully reflected in all game objects, with different time periods shown off in the course of missions, from day and sunset to neon night. The physics also pull off the impossible, giving you a slick driving experience while still allowing you to send cars flying when you smash into them, or send your own car flying when you use the myriad of shortcuts that will cut seconds off your time, and days off your lifespan. The game manages to deliver the speed and insanity of other arcade racing games, but with much more realistic physics that make the game much harder (and more satisfying) to drive.

It's an impressive first effort for Bunkasha, a publishing company most well known in Japan as the overseas publisher of titles like Penthouse. While we can't vouch for any topless girls in the game, you can be sure that there won't be a car bra intact by the time you're down with your reckless Wreckless missions.